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Bowden v. Annenberg12/9/2005
Judgment Appealed From Is: Affirmed
OPINION.
We have sua sponte removed this cause from the accelerated calendar.
{ } Plaintiff-appellant John Bowden, individually and as the administrator of the estate of Dorothy Bowden, his mother, appeals the judgment of the trial court entered on a jury's verdict in favor of the defendants in his wrongful-death, medical-malpractice action. Defendants-appellees are vascular surgeon Alan Jon Annenberg, M.D., his employer, Cranley Surgical Associates, Inc., and Mercy Hospital Anderson, the employer of surgical nurse Beverly Smith, R.N.
{ } In his six assignments of error, Bowden argues that (1) the jury's verdict was influenced by the improper remarks of Dr. Annenberg's trial counsel, (2) the trial court erred in denying his request for an instruction on res ipsa loquitur; and (3) in four instances, the trial court abused its discretion in failing to maintain orderly proceedings and in determining the mode and scope of interrogating witnesses at trial. Because Dr. Annenberg's trial counsel's comments were supported by the evidence and were not an attack on opposing counsel, because Bowden was not entitled to the requested instruction, and because the trial court did not abuse its discretion, we affirm
Facts
{ } Dorothy Bowden, age sixty-six, was admitted to Mercy Hospital Anderson in September 1998 for lumbar spinal-fusion surgery to relieve long-standing back pain. The surgeon who was to conduct the fusion procedure selected an anterior approach through Mrs. Bowden's abdomen. Because the approach to the spine required negotiating complex vascular structures, the portion of the surgery to expose the spine was conducted by Dr. Annenberg, a vascular surgeon.
{ } After forty-five minutes, Dr. Annenberg perforated Mrs. Bowden's iliolumbar vein with a right angle clamp, near the junction with the common iliac vein. To control bleeding into the abdomen during the attempt to repair this perforation, Dr. Annenberg compressed the surrounding vasculature with sponge sticks-surgical clamps holding gauze pads used to press on a blood vessel to maintain a dry operative field and to stop bleeding. The sponge sticks were applied by Dr. Annenberg and maintained in place by nurse Smith and other members of the surgical team.
{ } The repair efforts in the blood-filled surgical field caused injury to and bleeding from additional vessels. Dr. Annenberg testified that, during a transfer of one sponge stick from his grasp to nurse Smith's, the sponge stick slipped about two millimeters. The slipped sponge stick tore additional veins, including the sacral vein.
{ } After about three hours, Dr. Annenberg and the surgical team completed repairs to the common iliac, the internal iliac, and the iliolumbar veins. Their attention then shifted to uncontrolled bleeding into the pelvis from the internal iliac-vein tributaries and from the sacral vein. After being avulsed, torn in two, by sponge-stick traction on the internal iliac vein, the sacral vein retracted into an opening in the spine. The surgical team was unable to reach the retracted vein to repair it directly. Instead, they packed the pelvis with sponges to put pressure on the bleeding vein. The packing, however, did not stop the bleeding, and Mrs. Bowden died of blood loss several hours later.
{ } At trial, the jury heard the testimony of Dr. Annenberg, Bowden's two expert witnesses, the defendants' four expert witnesses, and Bowden's rebuttal expert witness. The issue of liability depended solely on the differing expert opinions about the proper techniques to stop the bleeding and to manage the hemorrhaging. All th
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